very disappointing, but what were they expecting? people gotta work. ill be going tomorrow though along with a few others. does anyone know if there is a live scoreboard version?

It's embarrassing.

Did they go to schools to promote it?

Would be a bit embarrassing for the management of it.
I'll be heading in at about 2:30 when my brother gets off work. Hopefully the crouds pick up a bit before then.

I'd love to got to any of the games - especially tomorrow's Monarch's vs. Fleet - but people work. What's with the scheduling during office hours?

What is the quality of the game play like?

Bizzy is in there right now as the first game is about to tip off. Says there are around 30 people there.

Obviously TV is the main thrust, but it's hardly going to look good for anyone tuning in. You know, the usual "basketball sucks. can't even get anyone to watch the games" stuff basketball fans hear all the time.

Heard last week that ticket sales in total were under 50 (just the one zero), so not too surprised.

Wonder if they could've built it up as a TV-only thing so the empty stadium didn't look awful?

should have offered free entry before 12 for families, given it is school holidays

Exactly, get kids in to watch, turn them into fans and they can nag their parents to go to Sixers games.

Just heard the same thing from a mate watching on TV. This is absolutely hilarious. Next to no promotion and poor scheduling; Foot Locker must have money to piss away if they've brought all these players in to play to no one.

Also; a little birdy tells me Maher may be considering something very "Un Maher-like" during tomorrow's game at 6pm. I'll let you lookup who the Fleet are playing and make your own conclusions =D

Really bad. I can't imagine One or sponsors are overly happy.

It's not a horrible idea running it this week. Lots of people are off due to School holidays and others love taking 4 days annual leave and getting 8 days in a row off over easter.

This hurts the NBL's image more than it helps.

ECBHoops
end of the 1st- Monarchs 29 Cyclones 23

Ed Millard looks something pretty special from what I've seen.
Good height, pretty powerful, seems to be able to score at will...

Mario Brown and Terrance Woodbury both look pretty handy too.

Quality of the game has been average so far, but it is the first quater of game 1 so i wasnt really expecting much.

you have got to be kidding me?!?!

oh boy.. this is terrible

does anyone have any photos that they can upload. Cant watch it cause im at work but would love to see the dome empty

I'm watching it on TV now. The standard actually looks ok. Ditto to what was said before, they need bums on seats. Dunno what happened promotion wise.

Another entry from Twitter:

@DodgeTaylor
Crowd doubled in last 15 mins :-)

This Ed Millard looks to be a keeper, 36ers need to get on this one

Had it not been for this website, I doubt I'd even know this event was happening.

It looks really bad on TV...

does any one know if they have merchandise to buy

this is not gonna help basketball in Australia at all.

It actually opens up new sponsorship opportunities. Someone like Aussie Home Loans could now jump on board and tie in their Low Interest products with the low interest tournament.

There is no question that the promotion has been terrible. Even if you get 1000 people to the final (doubtful), there has been too much reliance on viral promotion.

There are just a whole heap of problems with this and I'm not even a marketing person:

- Prohibitive scheduling
- Reliance on core basketball community
- Minimal promotion to broad audience / over-reliance on viral marketing
- Little brand recognition. While there are established names playing, does anyone care about any particular team?

Reading this thread is like watching a Ricky Gervais TV show. Feeling terribly uncomfortable but yet I can't look away...

Now watching it on TV.

Dodman playing for Bolden's team. Woodberry can't hold onto the ball. The big white dude from the Monarchs just fluffed a fast-break dunk in very amusing fashion. Wondering if this new ball is slippery?

Al Green has spent wisely on Hodge and Tucker since they're scoring well inside.

Cyclones have Graeme Dann and BJ Carter as two of their better players which might suggest they could struggle this week.

Commentators are doing pretty well in difficult circumstances.

How are Ohmi Godfrey and Brick Riordin going?

TC2 - I'm loving the TV Sports Basketball reference

OMG ulius still carrying on in the post game interview.

Two of the WORST free throws I have eva seen followed by a pitiful jumper.

Not a high standard, very loose atm

Not sure that Corey Williams has a future in commentary.

A problem with all star games is jacking of threes and the gamebreaker thing seems to encourage that. Great when they hit, but a bit miserable when they keep missing (as per the Cyclones in the second half).

Not sure I've missed 48 minute games now that we've had some time without them.

Height helps, but it's hardly everything. Luke Martin, Brad Davidson, etc have done pretty well for themselves. Zac Delaney is a midget but has spent more time on an NBL court than almost every one of us here.

You're on the right track ("product that people aren't looking for"), but I don't think the height angle is relevant here.

With HSH, much of the problem is with association/feeling for teams. I barely even care for NBL all star games so spreading the identities even thinner won't help.

Where I do find it interesting is because it's basketball, there are new faces, players we all know, etc. Worth checking out, but their promotion has fallen way short. There should be a schedule and roster link on the HSH site, but I can't easily find out who's planning and when.

Anon re tickets, I think tickets should've been free and the HSH guys should've been on here using their real names and announcing rosters, schedule, etc. But you can only do so much when heaps of people will be at work.

With a 36ers game, the atmosphere is a big incentive to attend in person. With HSH, it's OneHD for free vs $30 to go along.

School holidays. People are either still staying away and taking the rest of the week off as well. Bad management of this. The fact is that people have to work to pay the bills. They should have kicked it off last night at the conclusion of the Easter carnival and you probably would have all the interstate people possibly stay on along with more people able to come and watch as it was the end of the weekend. If AFL, soccer or Netball ran a high profile game in the middle of the day you would get the same response no matter what state you are in.

To those clowns who SBL get better crowds, when are these played? Its a shame the crowds are poor but it comes from poor timing.

does anyone know why it has been setup the way it has? there is no way in anyones right mind that they expected a massive turnout. so is this what they were expecting? are they just expecting to make it back from the people viewing on tv at home? i can see the tv part helping but i agree that the empty crowd is hurting it too. mind you ill be going tomorrow.

Embarassing crowd, hope it picks up later in the day.

I enjoyed the first game though. Millard broke the game open with some steals and fast break points after the Cyclones fought hard and lead in the early stages. After looking good early though, Millard also showed that his outside shot might be a little suspect.

Dann was good for the Cyclones, wouldn't mind seeing him as a backup big man for the Sixers rather than Coops. Mario Brown was solid too as a hustling big man and Woodberry showed he can shoot, but struggled with his handles a bit under pressure. (Anyone know if he is related to Steve Woodberry?)

Monarchs clearly the superior team. Their bench depth really told on the Cyclones, who once tired, were easily overcome on the glass and turned the ball over too much. Galen Young was too big inside for the Cyclones and they had too many athletes with Hodge, Tucker, Millard, etc.

Nice TV Sports Basketball reference TC2. Great game in its day. I remember many epic battles against Brick Riordan's team. Wasn't he part of the 'Cinemaware' team whose players were all named after the game developers? Funny how they always seemed to rip it up - it was the ultimate example of 'computer bullshit' when they'd go on unstoppable runs!

Beantown, Dann is a SG/SF, not a big man!

(Oh god, OneHD showing Lemanis yawning in the crowd.)

SRT, I think they would've been expecting 500/game. It's geared primarily around TV.

thats good to hear Isaac, glad they werent expecting much. i think tomorrow will be a better day but who knows. i told my little brother to go so him and his mates will be there all day tomorrow, he is in school and he plays ball for a club not sure which he is only 14 but he said he had no idea it was happening, so very poor advertising as we already know

I love it how the team rosters are still "coming soon" on the event website.

Are any stats being recorded and put on a website anywhere??

I asked ECBHoops on Twitter and haven't had a reply yet.

If your going to the Dome can everybody sit in the stands opposite the players bench so it looks busier!

Let people stay overnight and distribute 1,000 tickets to Adelaide's homeless.

2 birds - 1 stone.

Isaac, someone should tell Dann that then, because he is 6'8 and he played like a big man today! Defended the paint aggressively, rebounded well, defended Galen Young a few times, was always looking to get into the paint to overpower and shoot over his opponent.

Credit where it is due, thanks to JVG for organising a bball event in Adelaide. But next time hopefully he schedules it so more fans can go and watch or watch it on tv. If they had night games and Saturday games I am sure viewership and attendance would be alot better.

The line ups are fine.

The lack of promotion and weekday scheduling is not.

From the sounds of it even Sheffield Shield cricket gets higher numbers.

should be night games from 5.30 pm.

better chance of a crowd

If next seasons Sixers team resembles the Fleet i'll be stoked.

Not a whole lot wrong with the rosters. There are decent names and interesting new faces.

And the problem with running it later in the afternoons is that it might not get live TV coverage then. Or if you split it across two weekends, you have to pay for player accommodation for longer.

You have to choose between live coverage (getting on TV at all would be hard!) or a crowd and I think they made the call about TV very early.

Isn't the schedule dictated by when One HD are happy to show it - i.e. during the middle of the day in school holidays. It wouldn't be live on One if it were played from 5:30pm.

Who's commentating with Carfino at the moment?

I think its Jeff Van Groningen.

Does live really matter?

You could play some during the day - LIVE
Some at night - replayed later that night or as a lead in to the following days game.

Best of both worlds, get some live and some at crowd friendly times. Don't have to worry about finding out the score and ruining the replay because you couldn't find it if you tried.

Don't need it over 2 weekends but including Saturday is a must from an attendance point of view surely, and it gives you something to watch after the AFL Saturday night.

TC, I'm with you mate, that Fleet team was fun to watch. Nice to see a team that plays smart and hustles so hard on defence.

Jackson didn't show much offensively, but he was in everything on the defensive end. Don't know if stats are available anywhere, but he must have had a lot of steals and deflections!

Riley Luettgerodt looked like a real smart player, outworking opponents on both ends of the floor. Made me think of a mini Ricketts. Didn't show much range though, so that might count against him for an NBL spot.

Chris Goulding: another smart player with good court vision, he can flat out score and worked really hard defensively, rebounding very well against bigger opponents. You can come play for the Sixers anytime you want Chris! ;-)

Luke gave the Fleet a massive advantage inside. The Rush got back into the game when the Fleet went away from the big fella in the third quarter. I still get frustrated with how often Luke gets muscled out of position, but he should still be a dominant NBL big man for years to come if he stays in Oz.

Trueman: the Breakers have a real solid young big there. Held the fort pretty well when Luke got in foul trouble.

Nice to see Will Farley still has game as well.

Scorers from the first game:

Monarchs 101 (Millard 16, Tucker 14, Young 13, Oliver, Hodge 12, Woody 10) d Cyclones 83 (Dann 20, Brown, Woodberry 15, Dodman 11).

should have given out free tickets at local shopping centres and schools....a non existant paying crowd looks pathetic on TV.

Smart move by me taking the free car park at the beginning of the Dome drive way. Didn't want to pay $10 to get into that busy grass car park.

So, yes the crowd was terrible.

Hodge was his usual self. So Bizzy and I enjoyed being within the wanker's hearing distance.

Some impressive imports: Millard, Helms and our boys Farley and Luettgerodt.

Not a big fan of Troy Jackson's attitude, or game for that matter. A big disappointment after I googled his name last night and went to the Dome expecting to see the big 400 pound 'Escalade' from And1.

The lack of atmosphere combined with consecutive blowouts had me a bit bored there while I was waiting for Mahersy and co. I'll probably just go to the Judas-Maher game tomorrow. It was good sitting in there with all those semi-celebrities though. Homicide, Gibbo, Ronaldson, Cal Bruton, Galen, Kersten, Woods etc etc.

"Also; a little birdy tells me Maher may be considering something very "Un Maher-like" during tomorrow's game at 6pm. I'll let you lookup who the Fleet are playing and make your own conclusions =D"

Also heard this from someone at Fleet training yesterday. Would absolutely LOVE Maher to drop that squeaky-clean image for the day and knock that wanker's head off :D

A bit on the TV news services tonite about Maher's "comeback" and Cole on the sidelines and up against hodge tomorrow - should help a bit with crowd.

X, was Jackson talking some trash or something? From my comfy spot on the couch, I saw nothing but inspired defence from the guy. He disrupted the Rush all night by getting his hands in everything. I'd almost forgotten people could play defence that way after this season ;-)

He appeared to whinge a fair bit and pretty well had a non-existant offensive game.
3-pointers constantly way off, no penetration at all.
Looked like the prototype for a 36er import actually.

His D was solid, I'll pay that. But as Hendo said, he was pretty average offensively, and his celebrations after a score when he had so many misses in between were pretty funny. He was whinging like crazy about his sore calves. "I'm in soo much pain!!! It's killin' me!"

For those that didn't go today, you should go for a look. Good concept in its infancy but as said, scheduling is iffy at best. Definitely worth a look though. Red team for mine, followed by blue and purple, and potentially the white team for hustle. Sorry, I lost track of team names. I think that's Rays, followed by Fleet and Monarchs, with Reef a chance too.

Isaac, you may be right with this comment

You have to choose between live coverage (getting on TV at all would be hard!) or a crowd and I think they made the call about TV very early.

Im thinking the only problem with this is Promotion.

Talent level is fair good, i was one of the few there today.

Prob max crowd of 150 (Half of them had something to do with the tournement).

36ers should sign
Bridgewater (Unstoppable Low Post from what i saw).
BlanchField (Explosive Dunker, Huge scorer from anywhere)

I found the overall level of skill pretty high. Prob at NBL or slightly higher. But they took way too many 3s in the games. I would say 30 a game on average.

Bridgewater plays in Victoria. Not quite NBL standard but a big unit. Height 205cm and weighs in at 130kg and the cat can dunk.

Blanchfield is reportedly in Townsville's squad but not their "team". Me guesses that's about to change.

tell me about it both of those players can dunk it.

Bridgewaters dunk shook the ring for over a minute. SHAQ Jr.

Blanchfield will be in the NBL very soon i would think. Loved the final dunk from him.

But apparently the games were boring

if you are a basketball lover you will head to the dome - buy a coffee and sit court side and watch this spectacular. rest assured you wont see the talent like this again soon. Some of these young guys like Millard, who wants to play for the Gold Coast or the 36 ers may well be household names in 2 years time. I am loving it and the trasgh talk is clever! Once at the stadium - the lack of crowd means you are just about in the game.

EC, I agree. Paying $30 for that sort of game is just excessive.

To cater for people coming and going, have it $30 for entry in the morning and drop back as the games are played. Could easily have a $10 ticket for the final game of the day. No need to kick people out or worry about people abusing the ticket.

Im pretty sure 30 dollars is actually not that bad for 4 games. The quality of Players is great. It only averages to $7.50 a game.

well... i will be getting my Hodge Is A Wanker shirts tomorrow... going to be an awesome game... can't wait to heckle the dick!

I enjoyed it. Is somewhere between SEABL and NBL and that is ok by me, it gives the young guys a chance to shine who arent yet ready to be stars in the intensity of a top pro league like the NBL.

Bridgewater has talent but his skinfolds need to ocme way down and his fitness way up to play in the NBL.

As has been said why wasn't this advertised better? If I hadn't read it on Hoops I wouldn't have known it was on.Channel 10 should have been promoting it more.It is school holidays;good idea free entry before 12 for families.There could have been some attractive deals organised with District clubs to get them kids down there.As a member of one of them clubs we didn't know anything about it.At least trying them ideas may have got a bit better attendance, people do have to work.Embarrassing for Adelaide.

At one stage during yesterday (fleets game) I counted around 230 people on the dome seats. Futhermore stats (as I am on the stats bench) is being used however they are not asking us to email it to anyone so I doubt you will see it on the web anywhere. The stats being used are mainly for coaches and media at the games. Isaac if I get a chance I will ask JVG if he minds me emailing box scores to you at the end of the day so you can do whatever you want with them.

Sounds good. Everyone would love stats I'm sure. HTML files would be best. There's an ECB/HSH guy in Brisbane who could probably help too.

Are they using the FIBA thing or the old CyberSports stuff? If the latter, is it possible to set up live stats feeds?

Isaac,
they are using the old cybersports stuff which makes it a little bit harder from a webcasting point of view. Also found out they have decided to put all box scores on the web at www.highstakeshoops.com so wont bother emailing them to you.

What concerns me is how bad it will look on Adelaide in future years when this tournament is held in a different city. They started in Adelaide because of the basketball crowds they get here and yet the organisation was so poor, hardly anyone went. The organisers will now learn from their mistakes and improve on it in the future. The improvement will benefit another city who will get better crowds as a result of it and then make Adelaide look bad because they couldn't attract a crowd.

Per my post about the possible negative impact this could have on the NBL, here are two examples from Twitter, from people who've stumbled across HSH but could be in the strongest target market of those interested in sport (males, 20-40).

NBL pays 4 points for a shot outside. Lame.

Just watched some hoops on one, the NBL is in major trouble if this is what basketball in Aus is all about!